Device for cleaning pipe lines



April 1947. c. J. HAYNES EIAL 2,418,880

DEVICE FOR CLEANING PIPE LINES I Filed Jan. 25, 1944 fi fi as a FIG. L

s2 I a 5 so U a 41' 4o 4 R 32 3g so '9 20 y Q 2 44' S WNVENTORS.

By u MW ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. i5, 194? PATENT DEVICE ron CLEANING PIPE LINES Cecil .i. Haynes and Saint Elmo Swain, Houston, Tex, assignors to Standard Oil Development Company, a corporation of Delaware Application January 25, 1944, Serial No. 519,695

2 Claims.

The present invention is directed to a device I for cleaning pipe lines.

It is well known to the art that pipe lines, particularly those utilized for transporting oil great distances across country, often contain obstructions. If the line is assembled by welding, steel icicles or projections may extend into the pipe at the welds. Moreover, in welded pipe lines as well as in pipe lines assembled with screw joints,

there may be burrs and obstructions, such as timbers or dead animals.

After oil pipe lines are put into use, a layer of parafiin is gradually, de-

ing arranged therein a paraffln cutter constructed in accordance with the present invention. A body ,'|-2 has attached thereto a plurality of guide wheels l3 by means of spring mountings it. The guide wheels are preferably provided with sharp edges so that when the mounting means forces them against the interior. of the pipe linethey will prevent rotation of body l2.

Body 12 is of a general cylindrical shape and has secured to its upstream end a flexible annulus l5 which seals the space between the pipe line and the wall of the body to divert all of the posited on the interior of the pipe and this 210- v rotated with respect'to the body by the force of fluid flowing through the pipe line.

fluid stream through the body H. The body I? is provided with spiders l6 and H having secured thereto bearings i8 and i9, respectively, to accommodate shaft 20. Vanes 2! are securedto shaft so that the flow of fluid through the interlor of body l2 will act on the vanes and cause it and the shaft to rotate. The forward end of body I 2 is provided with ports it to serve as exits for the fluid flowing therethrough.

A cutter head assembly is arranged ahead of body it. The cutter head is connected to shaft ill through a. train of gears so that the power received from the fluid stream by vanes 2| is transmitted to the cutter head. Before describing in detail the cutter head and the gear train Another object of the present invention is toproduce a device for cleaning pipe lines in which the cutting elements are operated by the fluid flowing through the pipe line with means for rotating the cutting elements at a relatively high speed when the device is meeting with little resistance and at a lower speed when the devic meets with a greater :esistance.

transmitting-power to it from the vanes, it maybe stated broadly that the vanes and the cutter head are mounted on separate shafts and that a jack shaft receives power from the shaft carrying the vanes and transmits it to the shaft carrying the More specifically it is an object of the present- I invention to devise a means for cleaning pipe lines in which vanes are arranged to be rotated by the flow of fluid through the line and are connected through a gear train to a cutting head so that the rate of rotation of the cutting head with accompanying drawing, in which: Fig. i is an elevation, partly in cross section,

cutter head. Both the shaft carrying the cutter head and the jack shaft are slidably arranged and are provided with biasing means. .The shaft carrying the cutter head and the jack shaft are provided with pairs of co-operating gears, and

similarly the jack "Shaft and theshaft carrying tle resistance. a pair of gears carried bythe cut-' respect to the vanes is altered in response to the resistance encountered by the cutting head.

the vanes are provided with pairs'of co-operating gears. When the cutter head is encountering llt- .ter head shaft and the-lack shaft are .in mesh. and similarly another pair of gears carried by the jack shaft and the vane-carrying shaft are in mesh. When the resistance encountered-by the cutter head increases, the first pair of gears carried by the jack shaft and cutter head shaft respectively are disengaged and-a second pair'- of an embodiment of the present invention; and

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary view showing the gear train which connects the shaft carrying the cutter head of the device with the shaft carrylngthe vanes of the device.

Referring to the drawing in detail. numeral ii designates a cutaway section of a pipe line havareengaged. When still greater resistance is encountered. the pair of gears carried by the jackshaft and the vane-carrying shaft respectively are disengaged and a second pair are engaged.

tweenthe shaft carryingvthe vanes and the shaft carrying the. cutter head.

-'I'his assembly allows three different ratios be- In the drawing the shaft carrying the cutter head is designated by numeral 23. The cutter is arranged so that if it meets an obstruction incapable of being cut away; themoving secured to slidable member 25 by means of a toggle 29. I

The gear train connecting cutter-head-carryins shaft 23 and vane-carrying shaft 20 is shown in detail in Fig. 2. It willbe understood that the gears shown in this figure are hidden by body l2 in Fig. 1. It will be further understood that the gear train shown in Fig. 2 is somewhat more extended than is desirable in a working device, the gear train being distorted in this figure for the purpose of more clearly illustrating the proportions between the several members thereof.

Shaft 23 is supported by bearing 30 as it passes through the forward end of body l2. The rear portion of shaft 23 is provided with second bearing 3i also secured to body I2. A hearing 32 is affixed to the rear end 01' shaft 23 for supporting one end of spring 32, arranged between the rear end of the shaft and a portion of body l2. It will be evident that shaft 23 is free to move in a longitudinal direction, but that it is biased in a forward direction by spring 33.

Vane-carrying shaft 20 is arranged with its longitudinal axis lying on the same line as the axis of shaft 23. The rear end of this shaft is supported by bearing 34, carried by spider l8. Another bearing, 35, provides support to the shaft as it goes through spider l1, and a third bearing, 38, supports the front end of this shaft.

A lack shaft, 31, has its longitudinal axis parallel to the axes of shafts 23 and20 and is supported by bearings 39, 4B and 4i. Another bearing 42 i attached to the rear end of the jack shaft for providing a relatively friction-free contact between spring 43, arranged between the rear end of jack shaft 31, and a portion of the body I2. The means for mounting shaft 31 allows it to be moved along its longitudinal axis, but biases the shaft in a forward direction.

Power is transmitted between shaft 23 and shaft 31 by pairs of gears 44-45 and 46-41. These gears are provided with leather or rubber faces 44', 45', 46' and 41' respectively. The gears are shown in the drawing with the pair of gears 44-45 in mesh. Upon movement of shaft 23 in a rearwardly direction, such as caused by the cutter head meeting an obstruction, the pair of gears 44-46 are disengaged and the pair .of gears 48-41 becomeengaged. As the pairs of gears 44-45 are disengaged, faces 44'-45' and 48'-41" serve as clutches to continue the respective rotary motion of shafts 23 and 31 until the second pair of gears 46-41 mesh. Mounted to the rear of gear 41 Le an annulus 48, with which face 46' comes in contact upon additional rearward movement of shaft 23 and forces shaft 31 to move with shaft 23 if such additional movement takes place.

Shaft 24 and Jack shaft 31 are provided with co-operating pairs of gears 49--50 and iii-52 respectively. These gears are provided with leather or rubber faces 49, 50', 5| and '52 respectively. In the drawing gears 49 and 50 are shown in mesh. This pair of ears will be in mesh when power is being transmitted between cutter head shaft 23 and jack shaft 31 by pair of gears 4445 or pair of gears 46-41 so long as face 46 does not make friction contact with annulus 43. However, when face 46 is forced against annulus 48, both shaft 23 and shaft 31 move rearwardly together, disengaging pair of gears 49-50 and engaging pair of gears 50--5l,

faces 49, 50', 5i and 52 serving as clutches as gears 4950 are disengaged and gears 5I52 are engaged.

In the operation ofv the device of the present invention, power is provided by the rotation of vanes 2| mounted on shaft 20. The power is transmitted from shaft 20 through jack shaft 31 and from jack shaft 31 to cutter-head-carrying shaft 23. When shaft 23 is in its forward position it is turned at a relatively high speed. As indicated on the drawing, pairs of gears 49--50 and 44-45 are all approximately the same size, making the rotation of shaft 23 comparable to that of shaft 20. Upon the movement rearwardly of shaft 23, the power is transmitted from jack shaft 31 through gears 41 and 46 to shaft 23. .As indicated on the drawing, gear 41 is considerexerted 'by shaft 23.

It will accordingly be seen that shaft 23 may be turned at three different speeds with respect to shaft 20, these speeds being changed so that relative longitudinal movement between shaft 23 toward shaft 20, such as produced by the pressure of pipe line fluid, against the rear end of body l2 while the cutter head is held against longitudinal movement by an obstruction causes the shifting of the gears to increase the torque exerted by shaft 23. When the device is cutting paraffin the force exerted against the cutter head is relatively small, and this in turn allows the cutter head to assume its most forward position so that the speed of rotation of shaft 23 is great, but the shaft exerts little torque. When an obstruction is encountered such as caused by a timber in a pipe line' or a welding icicle, the cutter head is held against longitudinal ,movement and fluid pressure on the rear of the cutter will shift the gear train first to a second position, diminishing the relative speed of shaft 23 and increasing its torqu'e. Additional fluid pressure on the rear of the device will shift the gear training means and the cutting head allows the liquid flowing through the pipe line to move at a faster -a pipe line, the interior of the pipe is free from paramn-accumulating obstructions and has a polished surface which offers a low resistance to fluid flow.

While we have disclosed a specific embodiment ofthe present invention, it will be apparent that various changesmay be made in the size, shape and proportion of the individual parts of the device without departing from our invention. It

is intended to embrace such changes by the hereto appended claims.

We claim:

1. In a pipe cleaning device a body defining a conduit adapted for longitudinal movement through a pipe, a vane mounted on said body arranged in such position as to be rotated by the flow of fluid through the conduit, a scraper element rotatably carried by said body adapted for rotation in the pipe and so positioned as to clean the wall thereof, a variable speed gear mechanism arranged to connect the vane to the scraper element and having means operable under varii 6 V Y ations in the load applied to the scraper element to vary the ratio at which the vane is geared to said scraper element in such manner as to raise the torque applied to said scraper element when said load increases.

2. A device in accordance with claim 1 in which the scraper element is mounted on a shaft and includes a plurality of mounting members, means arranged pivoting the forward end of each mounting member'to the forward end of said shaft, a biasing mean forcing the rear end of each of said mounting members laterally outwardly, and a cutter mounted for rotation on each of said mounting members.

oEcIL J. HAYNES. SAINT ELMO SWAIN.

REFERENCES orrnn The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Date Number Name- F 793,204 Lemke June 27,- 1905 812,361 Pickles et a1 Feb. 13, 1906 675,800 Steele June 4, 1901 928,863 'Greenan et a1. July 20, 1909 1,908,339 Frank May 9, 1933 708,881 Hervey Sept. 9, 1902 1,810,450 Broembsen June 16, 1931 1,030,634 Adamson June 25, 1912 894,557 Weinland July 28, 1908 

